Ear Training
Notes, intervals, chord qualities and scales, at three difficulties that change the exercise rather than the label.
Set up your session
This level:
Nothing plays until you press Listen. Start at a low volume and use headphones if you have them — small laptop speakers lose the bottom of the range, which is where most confusion between intervals comes from.
Question 1 of 10
Replays are counted but never deducted. Listening again is practising, not cheating.
Session finished
Accuracy counts the questions you answered. Skipped questions are not counted as wrong — "I do not know, show me" is a different thing from a guess that missed.
Getting the most out of it
- Sing it back. Reproducing an interval with your voice moves it from something you recognise to something you know.
- Short and often. Ten minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday. Ear training is a perceptual skill and it consolidates between sessions, not during them.
- Stay at a level until it is boring. Ninety per cent over several sessions, then move up. Moving early means guessing, and guessing trains nothing.
- Use harmonic intervals too. Two notes together are harder than one after the other, and they are what you actually meet in music.
Related tools
Hearing nothing? Check your output with the sound test or the headphone test.
Your practice data
Your mode, difficulty and question count are remembered in this browser, along with a running total. No account, no upload, and no microphone — ear training only ever plays sound, it never listens.
Questions
Does this need a microphone?
No. Ear training plays sound and asks you to identify it; there is nothing for a microphone to do. No permission is requested and no audio is captured. If you want the microphone, that is the scale trainer or a tuner.
Why are there no song titles to remember intervals by?
The songs normally used for that are copyrighted work, so they are not reproduced here. The hint after each answer describes what the interval sounds like and where it sits in a scale instead — which transfers better anyway, because it works on music you have never heard.
Am I penalised for using Replay?
No. Replays are counted so you can see them, and never deducted. Intermediate and advanced limit how many replays a question allows, which is a constraint on the exercise rather than a penalty on your score.
What actually changes between difficulties?
The answer pool, the number of choices offered, the range of pitches used, how much the root moves, and the playback direction. Beginner intervals are five consonances played upward in one octave with four choices; advanced is all thirteen intervals over three octaves, ascending, descending or harmonic, with every interval offered as a choice. The exact numbers for the level you have selected are shown on the setup screen.
Why can I not tell an augmented fourth from a diminished fifth?
Because in equal temperament they are the same sound — six semitones either way. Which name is correct depends on the key and how the chord resolves, not on anything audible, so this tool asks for "tritone" and does not pretend the distinction can be heard.
Is this a hearing test?
No. It is a musical training exercise played through whatever speakers or headphones you have, on an uncalibrated device. It measures nothing about your hearing and should not be used to. If you are concerned about your hearing, see an audiologist.
Four things worth being able to hear
Notes - hear a pitch and name it. Intervals - hear two notes and name the distance between them, all thirteen from unison to octave, ascending, descending or played together. Chord qualities - major, minor, diminished, augmented, sus2, sus4, dominant seventh, major seventh and minor seventh. Scales - major, minor, the pentatonics, the blues scale and, at the top level, the modes that sit one note away from something else in the list.
Difficulty that actually changes something
A difficulty selector that only changes a caption is worse than none, because it tells you that you have progressed when you have not. Here each level changes the answer pool, how many choices are offered, the range of pitches used, how far the root moves and which playback directions appear.
Beginner intervals are five consonances played upward inside one octave with four choices. Intermediate widens the pool to nine, the range to an octave and a half, offers six choices and plays both directions. Advanced uses all thirteen intervals across three octaves, ascending, descending or harmonic, and offers every interval as a choice. The exact figures for whichever level you pick are shown on the setup screen before you start.
Replays are not cheating
Replays are counted so you can see them and never deducted from your score. Listening to something again is practising. Intermediate and advanced limit how many replays a question allows, which constrains the exercise rather than penalising you.
Skipping is its own outcome too. A skipped question breaks your streak but is not counted as wrong and is left out of your accuracy, because "I do not know, show me" is a different thing from a guess that missed.
An explanation after every answer
Every answer is followed by the correct one, the notes involved, the semitone count, the chord or scale formula, and a description of what to listen for. Those descriptions talk about the sound and where the interval sits in a scale rather than quoting the opening of a famous song - partly because those songs are somebody's copyrighted work, and partly because a description transfers to music you have never heard, which a song title does not.
No microphone, ever
Ear training plays sound and asks you to identify it. There is nothing for a microphone to do, so none is requested and no audio is captured. Everything is synthesised in your browser with a proper envelope - a note that fades in and out rather than a bare oscillator switched on and off, which is both less unpleasant and genuinely easier to identify.
How to make it stick
Sing what you hear back. Ten minutes a day beats an hour once a week, because this is a perceptual skill that consolidates between sessions rather than during them. Stay at a level until it bores you - around ninety per cent over several sessions - and only then move up, because moving early means guessing, and guessing trains nothing.
This is a musical training exercise on an uncalibrated device. It is not a hearing test and measures nothing about your hearing.
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Quick answer
Pick what to train and a difficulty, press Listen and choose your answer. Every answer is followed by the correct one, the notes involved, the formula and a description of what to listen for. No microphone is used and nothing is recorded.
Key facts
- Notes, intervals, chord qualities and scales in one tool
- Three difficulties that change the exercise, not the label
- All thirteen intervals, ascending, descending or harmonic
- Nine chord qualities and nine scales
- Explanation after every answer
- Replays counted, never penalised
- No microphone and no account
Frequently asked questions
Does ear training need a microphone?
No. It plays sound and asks you to identify it, so there is nothing for a microphone to do. No permission is requested and no audio is captured.
Am I penalised for using Replay?
No. Replays are counted so you can see them and never deducted. Intermediate and advanced limit how many replays a question allows, which constrains the exercise rather than penalising your score.
What actually changes between the difficulty levels?
The answer pool, the number of choices offered, the range of pitches used, how far the root moves and the playback direction. Beginner intervals are five consonances played upward in one octave with four choices; advanced is all thirteen intervals over three octaves, ascending, descending or harmonic, with every interval offered.
Why are there no song titles used as interval mnemonics?
The songs normally used for that are copyrighted work, so they are not reproduced here. The hint after each answer describes what the interval sounds like and where it sits in a scale instead, which transfers to music you have never heard.
Is this a hearing test?
No. It is a musical training exercise played through whatever speakers or headphones you have, on an uncalibrated device. It measures nothing about your hearing.